See also

EU officials attend EPO-OHIM seminar in Brussels

Raimund Lutz in conversation with DG Internal Market`s Kerstin Jorna

Officials of the European Commission, Member states' permanent representations to the
EU, and the European Parliament participated in a seminar organised by the EPO
and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) in Brussels last
week.

The
seminar, which took place in Brussels on 13 and 14 November 2013, was the
second in a series of inter-institutional training initiatives, launched last
year by the European Patent Academy together with the OHIM Academy, targeting key
players in public institutions across Europe. With a view to the upcoming Unitary
patent and Unified patent court, it aimed to foster and promote better
knowledge and understanding of IP issues and challenges, by providing essential
facts and new insights to EU officials.

For the EPO's Brussels Bureau, working at the heart of the EU policy-making
community on a daily basis, this seminar was also an opportunity to strengthen
links with its existing network of contacts in EU institutions and to introduce
the Office and its role to a broader EU audience.

Combining
these two aspects, the seminar offered a forum to learn about and discuss the
main current issues in the field of IP.

Around 130 people attended the seminar

Around
half of the 130 participants came from the European Commission (from the
Directorate Generals Internal Market, Trade, Competition, Research,
Agriculture, Connect...), who together with members of EU Permanent
Representations in Brussels and the European Parliament constituted an
attendance with particular interest in IP policy.

Discussions
were extremely positive, involving patent and trademark law practitioners,
economists, and law professors, as well as officials from the National Patent
Offices.

EPO Vice President Raimund Lutz delivered the opening address together with
Kerstin Jorna, Director Intellectual Property, DG Internal Market and Services at
the European Commission.

Mr
Lutz welcomed the recent developments, calling them an opportunity to shape "a
new patent system for the future of Europe".

Other
speakers included Paul Maier, Director of the EU Observatory on Infringements
of IP Rights at OHIM, and Jérôme Debrulle, Head of the Belgian IP Office.

The main findings of the recent joint EPO-OHIM study on IPR-intensive industries were underlined, showing the essential contribution
of IP and patents to the European economy.